


The Hierophant [Pt. I]

by tattoosanta



Series: Sad Psychics and Mysterious Boys [2]
Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Gen, Half Brothers, No Persona AU, Protective Big Brother Shinji, Psychic AU, Sarcasm, Tarot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 18:40:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11446755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattoosanta/pseuds/tattoosanta
Summary: Shinjiro was pretty sure psychics were among the most terrifying people on the planet, second only to politicians and an angry Mitsuru. He didn't know why he'd agreed to go see one. Maybe because it was Goro who asked him to look into it.





	The Hierophant [Pt. I]

**Author's Note:**

> Casually joins the "I have a big chapter fic but I'm going to write one-shots to go with it" bandwagon  
> There will be a bunch of these, so look forward to them! :D  
> Or, you know, don't. It doesn't really matter to me haha 
> 
> Anyway, by request of HanaHimus, this first one focuses on Shinjiro! (And Goro, by proxy) 
> 
> Poll for the next one-shot in the notes at the bottom!  
> Please enjoy this little story of mine, and feel free to look at He Doesn't Believe in Psychics for more of this AU!

Shinjiro was pretty sure psychics were among the most terrifying people on this planet, alongside politicians and Mitsuru when she got mad. He didn’t understand why someone would want to be so finely in-tune with things normal people couldn’t understand. 

It didn’t help much that his half-brother was really interested in psychics. In fact, one could say Goro was almost obsessed with them. He had too much free time, basically.  

It was on his suggestion that he started to look into finding a psychic in town, actually. No matter how many times he said he wouldn’t listen to everything his brother asked him to do, he ended up doing it anyway. There was something about the way Goro asked… it was impossible to say no. 

Speak of the devil… Goro stood in the doorway, Koromaru in his arms. “What are you doing on the computer?” He was surprised to see that, since Shinjiro was the kind of guy who really didn’t like technology. 

“I’m doing what you asked me to do.” Shinjiro grunted and glanced back at him. “You need to get dressed, it’s like noon already.” 

Goro pouted a little bit and shrugged. “I don’t have anywhere to go, so I wanted to be comfortable. You’re the weird one for waking up at six in the morning and getting dressed when you don’t have anything to do.” 

“Okay, brat, whatever.” Shinjiro said that, but he loved his brother. He just wasn’t the most… affectionate guy ever. He was a firm believer in actions speaking louder than words in most cases. 

Luckily, Goro was one of those cases, as he just huffed and came to look over his shoulder. “Did you find anyone, then? It looks like you’re looking at a map.” Always the nosey one, this kid was. He was just curious. 

“Yeah, I found a lady not too far from here. Apparently she’s the one Aigis and her family like a lot.” Shinjiro shrugged and sat back so he could reach Koromaru’s head to pet it. “I dunno what she does, though.” 

Goro still seemed excited at the idea of there being a psychic in town, and he smiled. “We should go see her, though.” Of course he suggested it. He probably just wanted to do something he considered fun for the day. 

Shinjiro could understand that, but… “You’re not going out of the house in your pajamas. If we’re going to meet his lady, you’re going to wear normal clothes.” He had to put his foot down sometimes, dammit! Even if he did get pouted at, like he was getting right now.

“I’m serious, Goro. You’re not leaving the house without at least a pair of jeans on or something.” 

Goro stuck his tongue out, but he set Koromaru down and went to his room to put something more presentable on. Sometimes Shinjiro could get the twelve year old to do things… sometimes. The key word with that kid was sometimes. 

“...Did I really just say we could go see this crazy ass family because Goro wants to be nosey?” Why did he always end up bending to his brother’s will? It wasn’t because he was cute, that was for sure. Well… he was sure  _ someone  _ would find Goro cute, but it sure as hell wasn’t him. He was more… endearingly annoying. 

Maybe that was what made him so weak? ...No, there was no way. “Ugh, whatever.”

He stood up and stretched, then shuffled out into the hallway toward the front door. Koromaru followed directly at his heels, panting excitedly like he was about to go on a walk. 

“No, Koromaru, you’re going to stay here for now. I don’t want you getting into trouble at someone else’s house.” He sat down to put his shoes on and gently scratched behind Koromaru’s ears as he whined at him. “We won’t be gone long.” 

Koromaru whined again, then sat down and turned to wait for Goro to come out from his room. He sure was taking his time to get dressed and ready to go… just what was this kid doing? 

“Sorry, I couldn’t find my other shoe.” Goro finally appeared from his doorway, a small frown on his face. “I think Koro-chan hid it from me in the closet.” He looked at Koromaru, who laid his ears back and put his head in his paws. 

“Koromaru, you know better than to hide our shoes.” Shinjiro chided gently and stroked Koromaru’s head. “...So you ready then?” 

“Yes, I am!” Goro smiled and sat down to put his own shoes on as Shinjiro stood up. “I hope you know where we’re going, Shinjiro.” Because he knew next to nothing, other than the fact Aigis and her sisters liked whoever it was they were going to see. 

Shinjiro nodded and stuck a hand in his coat pocket. “Yeah, I know where their house is. Just stay close, and don’t go wandering off this time.” He looked down at his brother, who narrowed his eyes and pouted at him, then snorted. 

“That was one time! I thought you were still with me, anyway.” Goro stood up and put his hands on his hips. “Let’s go, okay? I want to see who these people are.” He had at least one question to ask, if he didn’t get too nervous when they got to wherever they were going. 

Shinjiro rolled his eyes and opened the door. “Go on, brat. Let’s get going.” He gently pushed Goro through the threshold and out onto the sidewalk, then closed the door behind them. “It’s not that far from here.” 

Goro nodded and waited for Shinjiro to walk ahead of him before starting to walk himself. He had a terrible tendency to get lost, as they had both realized when he first moved in with his half-brother about a year ago. 

“So you never told me which family this one was.” 

“The weirdos with the yellow eyes.” Shinjiro shrugged. “Apparently the oldest sister is psychic, and so is the adopted one.” He figured the little siblings had some sort of powers too, but he didn’t like dealing with it so he’d leave it at just the oldest sister and the adopted one. 

Goro frowned a little bit when he didn’t get anything other than “weirdos with yellow eyes”, but he would just have to accept it for the time being. They would get to meet them soon enough, anyway. Either that or Shinjiro would claim he needed some fresh air and leave him with total strangers, like he’d done multiple times in the past. That option always sucked. 

The brothers walked quietly for a while until they reached a comically large house in a mostly abandoned neighborhood. “This is where they live?” 

“Yep.” Shinjiro shrugged. “Either that or this house is just a prop for a TV show and Google Maps was lying to me.” This was probably meant to be a joke, but… as usual, he sounded like he was totally serious. 

That didn’t particularly bother Goro, though, as he just rolled his eyes and looked up at the house. “...Are you going to make me knock on the door, then?” 

“Yep. You’re the one who wanted to come here. So you do it.” Shinjiro nodded and took a step back. “I’m not gonna disappear or anything, so just go do it.” Stern, but kind. That’s how he had to do it. He didn’t know much about what happened before Goro moved to Iwatodai, but it apparently hadn’t been good. He just had to be careful sometimes. 

Goro sighed and knocked lightly on the door. He wasn’t going to knock any louder, so he hoped someone had heard. 

Luckily for him, someone opened the door. And… Shinjiro was right. This girl--who looked like she was a few years older than himself--had bright yellow eyes. And silver hair. He was pretty sure he’d just walked into an anime. 

“Can I help you?” Her voice was soft, but it was… lower than expected. She couldn’t be older than fifteen, right…? Well, that didn’t matter. “You both look like you want something. Come in, and we’ll talk.”

“Oh, um… alright.” Goro glanced back at Shinjiro, who just sighed and nodded, then stepped inside the house. “Sorry to come by unannounced.” 

The girl shook her head and smiled patiently. “No, it’s alright. We’re used to visitors coming by without warning.” She paused for a moment to look both boys over, then held out her hand. “My name is Margaret. It’s nice to meet you both.” 

“My name is Goro, and this is Shinjiro.” Since it didn’t look like his brother was going to talk any time soon, he figured he should. He shook Margaret’s hand and smiled a little bit at her. “...You said we, does that mean…?” 

Margaret nodded and smiled a little bit. “Yes, I have a large family. There are four who are more than two years younger than I am, and Marie is fourteen this year.” 

“I already turned fourteen Margaret!” Speak of the devil, a girl with black hair and striking green eyes poked her head out of what looked like a parlor and stuck her tongue out. “Why’re there strangers in the house?” 

“I’m not sure of that myself.” Margaret ignored the first remark and turned back to Goro. “Do you have a reason for coming and visiting us?” 

Goro nodded a little bit and took a deep breath that he hoped to god was quiet enough for Margaret not to hear. “I heard someone saying you and one of your sisters had psychic abilities.” 

Margaret smiled a little bit and nodded. “We all do here, but yes. Would you like a reading, then?” That’s usually what people asked for when they came to the house, after all. “I could get a deck and do a one card reading for you.” 

“That’s alright!” Goro shook his head and bit his lip. “If you did one, you should do one for Shinjiro.” He just didn’t want all the attention on himself, that was all. He would apologize to his brother later, but that was the first thing he could think of. 

She blinked, but nodded. “In that case… I know just who to get for that. Please, come and sit down at the living room table. I’ll be right back.” With that, she disappeared up the stairs. 

Shinjiro gave Goro a look and pulled him to the table. “I would be pissed at you.” He should be, but he wasn’t. Really, how could he be? He knew Goro tended to think on his feet when something he didn’t want to have happen went down. 

“I panicked, I’m sorry.” Goro sighed and looked down at the table. “We should be finished soon, though…?” He hoped so. Now he kind of wanted to go home and just cuddle with Koromaru for a little while.

Shinjiro was about to say something when Margaret returned from upstairs, a boy his age in tow. She pointed at the table, then smacked her brother on the back and turned around again. “Have fun, Theo.” 

“Sister…” “Theo” bit his lip and walked up to the table. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you both.” His pout was replaced by a smile, and he sat down across from Shinjiro. “My name is Theodore, but… you can just call me Theo.” 

Shinjiro nodded, but until Theodore didn’t say anything else had decided to remain silent. “I’m Shinjiro. Let’s just get this over with.”

“O-Oh… alright!” Theodore nodded and quickly shuffled his deck. “Just one card, right…?” That was what Margaret had told him, at least. He hoped he was right about that. “I can do that really quickly, and then you’ll be on your way.”

“Good.” Shinjiro crossed his arms and sat back. “It’s just the top card, right?” He hoped that was the case, because if there was a huge ceremony they had to go through, he’d be grabbing his brother and they’d be leaving. 

Theodore nodded and held the deck out for Shinjiro to take the top card. “Please take it and show it to me. I’ll give you a little definition, and then you can go.” It was like he knew Shinjiro didn’t want to be there. Probably because of the look on his face that said ‘I don’t want to be here’. 

“...Fine.” Shinjiro took the top card, flipped it over to look at it for a quick second, and then gave it back to Theodore. He’d briefly read what the card said, but Hierophant meant absolutely nothing to him. 

That didn’t seem to be the case for Theodore, though, as he replaced it carefully on the deck and smiled at Shinjiro. “The Hierophant is a very important card. It stands for leadership, order, and structure.” He paused, and when Shinjiro said nothing, continued. “This is your card.” 

Shinjiro narrowed his eyes. “So what does that mean?” 

“It means you will become a great leader!” Theodore smiled excitedly and nodded. “It could change later on, but it means you’ll keep order in your life and be a pretty structure-oriented man.” That’s how he saw it, at least. “That’s the basic rundown!” 

Shinjiro stood up when he heard that and grabbed Goro by the arm. “Thanks. Come on, brat, let’s go home.” He didn’t want to be there anymore. Nor did he care if he had a card or whatever. It was all freaky as hell to him. 

Goro whined in protest, but stood up and gave an apologetic smile to Theodore. “Thank you. Bye.” 

“Goodbye!” Theodore smiled and waved to them as they left, in a much bigger hurry than Goro would’ve liked. 

Once they got outside, Shinjiro released his arm and put his hands in his pockets. “Next time you want to go talk to a psychic or whatever, don’t take me.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the poll for the next one-shot: http://www.strawpoll.me/13389811
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated and welcomed! :D


End file.
